The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb... A Review

 

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

After the end of 12 pages I wanted to put this book down and never open it again. I was devastated. I am being dead serious. What happened in this book just ripped my heart out. Omg, how could I read on...

Wally Lamb writes about tough subjects. The last book I read of his was The Hour I First Believed, which was about the Columbine shooting. I remember being blown away by the book. Could I feel the same way about The River is Waiting.

When I did a google search of The River is Waiting, I came upon a FB reading group that had a discussion about the book after the post of one of the members with the line, "Turns out I won’t be reading past the first chapter. Anyone else?" 296 comments followed with the majority encouraging the member to push on. So I did.

The story continues with guilt, pain, and injustice as Corby Ledbetter, father and husband to two young twins tries to redeem himself after causing unbelievable heartache to his family. Okay. My pain from reading the first 12 pages dissipates a little and the story takes on a different demeanor, it turns into a story of redemption and survival... and then, at almost 300 pages the author has to, again, rip my heart out. The heart I somehow managed to put back together from the first 12 pages. All I can think is "Why am I reading this book!?".

But I continue (because I hate to not finish a book and I only have 150 pages or so to go)... and I finish the book... and I just sit there quietly. I was trying to figure out if I really liked this book. Yes, the book was good. Well written. Threw my emotions all over the place. Can we truly say it was a good read when it was so depressing. I was emotionally drained by the time I turned that last page. What I can say is that this would make a great book club pick. There are so many things that the group could discuss. And I imagine it would be a lively discussion too. There are so many things I want to discuss! I honestly didn't see the ending coming. After thinking about it more, I can't see it ending any other way. 

These characters will stay with me for a long time. They are complex and interesting. I unintentionally was living their story right along with them, wondering how I would handle certain situations. Wally Lamb is an amazing writer.

I wanted to give this book 3 stars for all the heartache it caused me, but I really can't. When a book takes you on such an emotional journey, where the lives of the characters really matter to you, no matter how depressing the story is, you have to acknowledge the writing. And the writing is at least 4 stars. The story, even though it was a hard story, was worth the read. 

**If you are sensitive reader, you should do a google search,"The River is Waiting trigger warnings" and read about these triggers first. I won't spoil the story by listing them here.

Published by Marysue Rucci Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster , June of 2025. 

Memoir Monday... This Monday it's all about food

 

There's something about a memoir about a "foodie" that I think just resonates with everyone. We all eat, right?! We all have a relationship with food and I'm sure we all have memories of eating, cooking, cooking disasters. Ever since I read Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl  I have loved memoirs about cooks and critics alike. When I received an invitation to read Zahra Tangorra's memoir, Extra Sauce I jumped at the chance! 

Here's the blurb from the publisher...

"A raw and raucous memoir from chef and writer Zahra Tangorra about the great meals and great loves of her life, reflecting on family, friendship, grief, and the solace that can be found through food

At twenty-two years old, Zahra Tangorra was trying on adulthood and attempting to find herself when a harrowing near-death experience stopped her in her tracks. It felt like a twisted version of a second chance. Who am I? she asked herself. What do I love? The answers started coming to her: Stuffed shells and giant meatballs at J&J’s, the Italian red sauce joint of her Long Island childhood. Her mother’s chocolate mousse pie and her father’s sweet and savory pea soup. The people, places, and experiences that made her her, the relationships both loving and fraught—they were all, for better and sometimes worse, inextricably bound up with food.

In this memoir that celebrates both the delicious and the messy in life, Zahra reckons with the adrenaline-filled highs and devastating lows of opening cult-favorite Brooklyn restaurant Brucie and then closing it at the height of its popularity. From cooking her father his last meal and the unexpected yet beautiful things she found at the bottom of her grief to the relationships she couldn’t save through cooking, like her fractured family and the lover she had to leave in Tuscany, Zahra writes about the immense courage it takes to allow ourselves to be loved, extra sauce and all."

You'll have to hold the sauce until April 26, 2026, when Extra Sauce by Zahra Tangorra is available from your local bookstore! Published by The Dial Press an imprint of Random House.

The Sunday Salon... New Year, New Books!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! Happy New Year! The Sunday Salon is the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to for Deb at ReaderBuzz keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post ! It's a beautiful day in South Carolina and a perfect day to talk books. And talking books is what The Sunday Salon is all about! 

And just as soon as Thanksgiving and Christmas arrived, they were gone... and the new year slipped in.

I never make new years resolutions anymore. But I do put up a GoodReads books read tracker on Chick with Books, and make a guess as to how many books I want to read this year. This year I put a very reasonable 25 as the goal. Of course, I will probably go over that, but it will be fun to see when I get to 25. Already I have a new pile of books waiting for me because... ALL my reserve books at the library came in the SAME day! Even though they were all suppose to be months away! The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite have been waiting for me to finish my "first book", Heart the Lover. 

(Psst, I finished Heart the Lover, started The River is Waiting, finished that last night and next up is Atmosphere).

Do you make a goal of how many books you will read this year?

What the new year definitely brings are new books! What are you looking forward to? Are your favorite authors releasing anything new? Here's what's coming soon from some great authors...

Skylark by Paula McLain... 

1664: Alouette Voland is the daughter of a master dyer at the famed Gobelin Tapestry Works, who secretly dreams of escaping her circumstances and creating her own masterpiece. When her father is unjustly imprisoned, Alouette's efforts to save him lead to her own confinement in the notorious Salpêtrière asylum, where thousands of women are held captive and cruelly treated. But within its grim walls, she discovers a small group of brave allies, and the possibility of a life bigger than she ever imagined.

1939: Kristof Larson is a medical student beginning his psychiatric residency in Paris, whose neighbors on the Rue de Gobelins are a Jewish family who have fled Poland. When Nazi forces descend on the city, Kristof becomes their only hope for survival, even as his work as a doctor is jeopardized.

A spellbinding and transportive look at a side of Paris known to very few—the underground city that is a mirror reflection of the glories above—Paula McLain’s unforgettable new novel chronicles two parallel journeys of defiance and rescue that connect in ways both surprising and deeply moving.

I am so excited to read this! My favorite book by Paula McLain is Circling the Sun. She does an incredible job bringing to life historical women.

Published by Atria Books and coming out this Tuesday, January 6th!

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Woman Down by Colleen Hoover...      

Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage. Branded a fraud and fame-hungry opportunist, she learned the hard way what happens when the internet turns on you. And she’s been uninspired to write ever since.

Now, with her next suspense novel outlined and savings nearly gone, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It’s Petra’s last-ditch attempt to save her career―and herself.

Then he shows up.

Detective Nathaniel Saint arrives with disturbing news, his presence igniting a creativity in her she thought long since burned out. Petra’s words return in a rush, and her fictional cop character begins to mirror the very real cop who’s becoming her muse.

Don't we all love those twisty romances Colleen Hoover writes! This sounds like another winner by her!

This is published by Montlake, an imprint of Amazon and will come out January 13th.

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The Storm by Rachel Hawkins... 

St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

Published by St. Martin's Press and will be released this Tuesday, January 6th!

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Weekly Wrap-up...

Thursday... we reveal our "First Book of the Year" for 2026! (Hint... I read it in 24 hours, it was that good!

Friday... is all about first lines, and these first lines will make you happy if you're a fan of "the bookwoman"!

Saturday... was my FIRST book review of 2026! Heart the Lover by Lily King was definitely a 4 star read.

So, this has been my crazy first week of the year! How was yours?!

Let me know what new books are on your radar... and if you picked out a "first book" for the new year!

Happy Reading... Suzanne

Heart the Lover by Lily King... a Review

Lily King, you ripped my heart out. You may not have meant to... no, I'm sure you meant to... and here I am trying to put into words what I just went thru...

I can tell you what the story is about... first love, young love, family, friendship, choices ( oh, definitely about choices and how they affect you til eternity). It's a friends to lovers story. There's a love triangle. There's mention of lots of classic literature and some made up literature (which you wish you could actually read). There's sex, but it's not blatant and more talk than action. Shall I go on??

Our protagonist tells the story starting out how she met Sam and Yash in college, which changed the course of her life. The guys give her the nickname Daisy (as in Buchanan) and eventually that evolves into Jordan (as in Baker), both literary references that seem humorous at the time (and cute), but makes me wonder if they are creating the girl they want in her as apposed to the girl she is (and I wonder this after finishing the book and know what happens in the end).

Their college days are spent in literature and debates, love and friendship, and expanding their understanding of the world around them. And as in any good love story, there is pain and hurt and misunderstandings, which we learn have repercussions many years later. As they get thru college, the course of their lives change in unexpected ways until ultimately there is understanding and forgiveness.

I want to talk to someone who has read this already so badly! 

BTW, for all the bookish people out there, you will love all the references to authors such as Hemingway, Henry Miller and F. Scott Fitzgerald (and that's only a few of the 50+ references).

Heart the Lover is moving. Lily King's writing innocently draws you in and won't let you go. It makes you think, remember... I read the book in 24 hours, not being able to do much until I got to the last page. I actually borrowed this as an ebook from the library. It came in just as I was debating about my "first book of the year". I figured I would be able to read it in 14 days even though I was going to start it on January 1st (It is"only"256 pages). Not only was I able to read it in the time I had, but now I need to actually buy a copy because I'd really like to be able to dive back in to all the literary references, read it again and have a copy on the shelf.

Heart the Lover was published by Grove Press this past September.

 This Chick with Books gives it 5 Hearts ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

First Lines Friday...

 "Somewhere among the nestled fissures and cradling dark-blue bluffs, between towns such as Hazard, Hell-fer-Sartain, Kingdom Come, and Troublesome, comes the Book Woman.

     Steadfast, she rides her mule through the hollers to deliver books. Where shadow-draped days set between the hills before the blue hour dissolves into coal-dust skies and a new dawn welcomes the rare delights of a children's moon, the Book Woman pushes on."  

 The Mountains We Call Home by Kim Michele Richardson

If you loved The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and particularly loved the heroine Cussy, here comes a treat for all of us! The return of Cussy to her home! I loved the first book and so did everyone in my reading group! This is actually #3 in the story, but it is a standalone, so you didn't have to read the first 2 books to enjoy this one. Kim Michele Richardson is a great storyteller. Her writing is inviting and will have you totally absorbed in reading it without realizing it. I am so excited to start this one! I have an advanced copy of the eBook waiting for me for from the publisher,  Sourcebooks Landmarks! This will be at a bookstore near you April 26th! Put this on your TBR list!

Here's a blurb from the publisher...

In this standalone and companion novel to the The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek series, our heroine for the ages, legendary book woman, Cussy Lovett, returns home. A powerful testament of strength, survival, and the magic of the printed word, The Mountains We Call Home is wrapped into a vivid portrait of Kentucky examining incarceration and criminalization, exploring the effects on the poor and powerless, and tracing the societal consequences of fractured family bonds, along with nostalgic glimpses of a bustling, multifaceted Louisville, and heartwarming portraits of reading efforts in every facet of life. 

Meticulously researched and richly detailed with a new cast of absorbing and complex characters, this beautifully rendered, authentic Kentucky tale is gritty and heartbreaking and infused with hope, spirit, and courage known only to those with no way out.

 

#TheMountainsWeCallHomeTheBookWomansLegacy  #NetGalley #FirstLinesFriday

First Book of the Year 2026!

 

Heart the Lover by Lily King

Drum Roll please...... yes, my First Book of The Year is Heart the Lover by Lily King! 

From the Publisher...

You knew I’d write a book about you someday. 

Our narrator understands good love stories—their secrets and subtext, their highs and their free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the simple rules.                                

In the fall of her senior year of college, she meets two star students from her 17th-Century Lit class: Sam and Yash. Best friends living off-campus in the elegant house of a professor on sabbatical, the boys invite her into their intoxicating world of academic fervor, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. They nickname her Jordan, and she quickly discovers the pleasures of friendship, love and her own intellectual ambition. Youthful passion is unpredictable though, and she soon finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. As graduation comes and goes, choices made will alter these three lives forever.

Decades later, Jordan is living the life she dreamed of, and the vulnerable days of her youth seem comfortably behind her. But when a surprise visit and unexpected news bring the past crashing into the present, Jordan returns to a world she left behind and is forced to confront the decisions and deceptions of her younger self.

Doesn't that sound intriguing?? I've been wanting to read this since it was the Indie Next pick for October. I'm excited to start reading this today! Stop back soon to read my thoughts and a full review!

Coming to a Reading Blog near you... First Book of the Year... 2026!

 Wow, can you believe it's going to be 2026! And with the new year, comes new books! AND First Book of The Year! Every year I choose a "first book". A book for a special theme for the year, a book I've  been meaning to read or something new I'm excited to sink my teeth into. For the 13th year, Sheila over at Book Journey has asked all the readers that know her and is organized this virtual get together, where we all share in a photo, what is our first book of the year. Thank you Sheila, this is so much fun to do every year!

SO, on January 1st... we reveal all the books at the Book Journey Blog AND, I'll post on Chick with Books what my choice is!! Come back Thursday!!

*** UPDATE... Here's the link to everyone's pick for First Book of the Year 2026 over at Book Journey!

Memoir Monday... The Book of Sheen

 

I remember Charlie Sheen in his early days in movies such as Platoon and Major League. And then my thoughts turn to crazy Charlie Sheen who did these crazy things that created lots of drama. Quite a few actors follow this path and then are saved from themselves. I recently saw Charlie Sheen on a talk show and was amazed at how honest he was about his past and how proud he was of his being sober for the past 8 years (He should be proud, it's a life saving accomplishment!). He was funny, self deprecating and I became interested in how he had turned his life around. His memoir, The Book of Sheen, reveals all of that...

The Book of Sheen by Charlie Sheen... " For the first time, Charlie Sheen, the star of Platoon, Wall Street, Major League, and Two and a Half Men, writes the story of his extraordinary life in an unfiltered memoir.

“We can live the stories or hear about them later from others. I choose the former.”

Charlie Sheen should not be alive to write this book.

But in The Book of Sheen, the movie and TV star, who has defied the odds, finally presents his story, in his own words. Charlie Sheen was born the third of four children to actor Martin Sheen and his wife, Janet. He grew up on film sets—from his father’s all over the world, to his own in Malibu. There he made ambitious Super 8s, with a roster of friends who went on to become household names themselves, including his brother Emilio, Sean and Chris Penn, and the Lowe brothers.

Sheen broke into movies in the 1980s, playing a hoodlum in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a young soldier in Platoon, and an ethically compromised trader in Wall Street. But somewhere along the way, despite a successful transition to TV leading man in Spin City and Two and a Half Men, Sheen descended into a vortex of extracurricular activities.

Now sober, Sheen delivers a clear-eyed narrative of his highs and lows with humor, candor, and a vivid, captivating writing style that is uniquely his. The Book of Sheen comes across like a far-fetched, overstuffed novel of Hollywood life—yet it is all true.

Published by Gallery Books Sept. 9th, 2025, this book is now available at your favorite book seller... and it's on my wishlist. Some celebrity memoirs are the same old stuff, but I think this one is destined to be a page turner.

Do you ever get the "feelies"?

I haven't read a Dan Brown book since The DaVinci Code, which was a very long time ago (I talked about this last Sunday). But when I was reading the description of The Secret of Secrets, Dan Brown's newest offering, it really sounded like something I could get into... and I bought a copy. The first thing I noticed as I opened the book was... the paper. Not just because it had words on it and I was going to start reading it, but the paper was.... luxurious! The feel of the paper was silky smooth and the weight of the paper, as I lifted one between my fingers, was wonderful... I was doing the "feelies"... feeling the pages between my fingers.

This is one reason people love real books! This tactile feel makes for a connection you just can't make with an ebook. And where most of my books these days are trade paperbacks, with pages that have a more rough feel, like recycled paper, The Secret of Secrets hardcover was a different animal. 

Publishers have a lot of choices when it comes to actually publishing the book. There are choices in covers (french flaps, anyone?), the weight of the paper, the finish of the paper, the font, the size of the font, deckle edges maybe? Now we have spray painted paper edges too. They also have a choice between hardcover and paperback. (Back in the day, most books were published in hardcover first with the paperback following about a year later. Nowadays, the trend for a lot of books is to go right to a trade paperback). With all these choices how do they decide? (I'm not sure, but I am going to try and find out...)

Do you like the feel of a real book?

I can't remember the last book that had pages that felt this way. Now I'm going to have to grab all my hardcovers and feel the pages....

Do you prefer "real" books, aka physical books, or ebooks? Hardcovers or Paperbacks? Let's talk! Let me know in comments below how you feel about the books you are reading!

Happy reading... Suzanne